Record rainfall recorded

Local officials are thankful the record precipitation that was recorded on Saturday turned to snow and temperatures dropped or flooding in some areas of Franklin County could have been worse than it was.

King Smith, who keeps official records for the National Weather Service, said the Preston area on Saturday received 1.03 of an inch of water.

“That broke the record of .65″ set in 1953. So far this month we have 1.83 and marks the first time since Oct. 1 above normal precipitation has been measured. The normal for January is 1.45 and more storms are predicted.

“We also got 1.8 of an inch of wet, slushy of snow. That gives us 3.3 inches for the month and normal is 13.1 inches.

Warren Wilde, emergency services director for the county, said about 900 sandbags were picked up from the Sheriff’s office on Saturday.

“The most concentrated areas where problems occurred on Saturday were between Clifton and Oxford at the far north end of the county and in Riverdale. Rain during Friday night and early Saturday ran off bare foothills and farm fields to the west of those two communities.

“Most people were picking up between 20 and 40 bags as a preventative measure,” he said. “We’re just thankful temperatures dropped and the rain/snow ended late in the day,” said Wilde.

County Road Supervisor Troy Moser said no roads in the county were closed.

“We had crews post signs to indicate water was flowing over roads in some spots,” he said. “We’ve had some isolated flooding in Thatcher/Cleveland, Station Creek, Mink Creek, and on the West Side.”